NEW DELHI: The Congress, which was miffed over former President Pranab Mukherjee attending an RSS event, has picked up five points from his speech there to slam the saffron organisation.
The party's social media teams have circulated a small video clip highlighting Mukherjee's views on pluralism, Gandhian and Nehruvian nationalism, the Constitution, unity in diversity, and violence, saying these were lessons in Congress ideology for the RSS.
Citing Mukherjee's speech, Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala lobbed questions at the BJP and the RSS, asking if they endorsed what the former President had said.
"Let the RSS and BJP publicly commit to change its character, orientation, thought process and path and accept the sagacious advice of their guest Pranab Mukherjee," he said.
Another video clip, dubbed a primer on the RSS, is also being circulated by the Congress social media teams to highlight how the BJP's ideological mentor had opposed freedom, the Indian tricolour, liberalisation, and how its leader VD Savarkar had sought mercy from British rulers while in prison and how the group valued the ancient text Manusmriti over the Constitution.
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh said the video should be translated into Hindi and circulated to give it a wider reach.
"At a time when revolutionaries, young and old, were agitating against the British, the RSS leaders of yore took utmost care to ensure that nothing that they did would tick off the British," said a senior Congress leader.
"The RSS always remained subservient to the colonial power that the British were. When Gandhiji launched the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, (RSS founder Keshav Baliram) Hedgewar made it known that the Sangh would have nothing to do with the protest," he added